NCT classes

Tonight was our 5th and final NCT class (not including the reunion with babies in tow!) so I thought I would post a little review of the classes to let you know what I thought.

As a bit of background, the NCT is the UK’s largest charity for parent, offering support and advice particularly in the First 1000 Days.. My first impressions of the NCT (purely based on rumours!) was that it creates very cliquey groups of “mum friends” and are very much of the notion that “breast is best”, and make you feel bad if you don’t want to breast feed. I’m happy to report that neither of those were true (in my experience).

We decided to go for the Essentials antenatal course. It was a course that covered the basics including: pregnancy, labour, pain management, bonding, feeding. And practical things like how to change a baby’s nappy (which neither myself nor Mr B have any experience in!).

Every NCT Essentials antenatal course covers:

The development of your unborn baby
Changes for you and your partner
Your health and wellbeing
Giving birth
Caring for your baby
Which people and services are there for you?

The signature course sounded good too, but to me it seemed like there would be too much information to take in (not to mention it’s considerably pricier!). So we joined the Essentials course. So don’t be put off by joining the NCT because you think it’s too expensive; it’s not as expensive as you might think.

Each class was small (8 couples in each) so it didn’t feel like we were lost in the group; there were plenty of opportunities to chat to the other parents-to-be, who were feeling as daunted by the prospect of being mummies and daddies are we are! Each session was nicely structured, with humour and advice, and practical activities (changing a baby’s nappy, how to wash a baby, positions for labour, breathing exercises etc) and we also got to try out some products which we might not usually have got to see (various baby slings, TENS machine etc). It all felt very hands on which was good; 5 weeks of lectures with no practical activities wouldn’t have been as good.

Our course leader was great; she emailed us a breakdown of what had been covered and useful information after every session, and encouraged us to set up a Whatsapp group, and meet up outside of the class to create a supportive network.

I would highly recommend looking into the NCT classes. I feel more knowledgeable now and – although i’m sure i’ll still have lots of questions – I feel more prepared for motherhood!!